Portal:Arctic
Introduction
The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctic region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean (which overlies the North Pole) and parts of Canada, Greenland (a territory of Denmark), Russia, the United States (Alaska), Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland. The word Arctic comes from the Greek word arktos (άρκτος) , which means bear. The name refers to the constellation Ursa Major, the "Great Bear", which dominates the northern region of the celestial sphere.
There are numerous definitions of the Arctic region. The boundary is generally considered to be north of the Arctic Circle (66° 33’N), which is the approximate limit of the midnight sun and the polar night. Other definitions are based on climate and ecology, such as the 10°C (50°F) July isotherm, which roughly corresponds to the tree line in most of the Arctic. Socially and politically, the Arctic region includes the northern territories of the eight Arctic states, including Lapland, although by natural science definitions much of this territory is considered subarctic.
The Arctic region consists of a vast ice-covered ocean (which is sometimes considered to be a northern arm of the Atlantic Ocean) surrounded by treeless, frozen ground. In recent years the extent of the ice pack has declined, with a record summer low set in 2012, and the lowest winter maximum set in 2016.
Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice, zooplankton and phytoplankton, fish and marine mammals, birds, land animals such as polar bears, plants, and human societies.
Selected articles
The Peregrine's breeding range includes land regions from the Arctic tundra to the Tropics. It can be found nearly everywhere on Earth, excepting extreme polar regions, very high mountains, and most tropical rainforests; the only major ice-free landmass from which it is entirely absent is New Zealand. This makes it the world's most widespread bird of prey.[5] Both the English and scientific names of this species mean "wandering falcon", referring to the migratory habits of many northern populations.
Selected biography
In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (something explorers had been attempting since the days of Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson), with six others in a 47 ton steel seal hunting vessel, Gjøa.
In the news
- April 25: UK announces £200 million polar research ship
- September 4: Wikinews Shorts: September 2, 2010
- September 3: Wikinews Shorts: September 3, 2010/Fuel tanker aground in Northwest Passage
- June 21: Greenland assumes self rule Sunday
- January 10: Canadian trio claim South Pole record for trans-Antarctic trip
- December 10: Wikinews Shorts: December 10, 2008
- October 28: Arctic ice thickness decreasing, suggests satellite data study
- August 28: 73M-year-old fossilized fish found in Canada
- August 27: Canadian military exercise NANOOK 2008 travels through uncharted waters
- June 28: The North Pole may possibly be ice free by summer
Selected image
Description:RMS Titanic's bow as seen from the Russian MIR I submersible.
Author: Kevin Saff
Featured pictureDid you know
- ...that Tookoolito (pictured) and her companion were advertised as "Esquimaux Indians... from the arctic regions" and exhibited at Barnum's American Museum in 1862? Read More...
- ...that John Wilson Danenhower, survivor of an Arctic expedition whose ship was crushed by ice, later committed suicide due to the grounding of the ship which was to be his first command?Read More...
- ...that Jan Nagórski, Polish pioneer of aviation and the first person to fly an airplane over the Arctic, was presumed dead for 38 years? Read More...
- ...that the Comer Strait in the Canadian Arctic, and the Gallinula comeri, the flightless moorhen of Gough Island, were both named after whaling Captain George Comer? Read More...
Subcategories
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Quotation
- As I stood there on the top of the world and I thought of the hundreds of men who had lost their lives in the effort to reach it [North Pole], I felt profoundly grateful that I had the honor of representing my race.
Features
Things to do
Selected panorama
Topics
Statistics
- Greek name: arktos (άρκτος)
- Names: Circumpolar North
- Principal waterway Arctic Ocean
- North Pole sea depth 4,261 metres (13,980 ft).
- Canada
- Prime Minister: Honourable Justin Trudeau
- Major Arctic Ports: Inuvik
- Principal Arctic Waterways: Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay
- Northern Canada
- North West Territories
- Premier Floyd Roland
- Official languages Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey, Tłįchǫ[6]
- Largest City Yellowknife
- Nunavut
- Premier Eva Aariak
- Official Languages Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English, French
- Largest City Iqaluit
- Yukon
- Yukon Premier Dennis Fentie
- Largest City Whitehorse
- North West Territories
- Denmark
- Faroe Islands
- Monarch: Margrethe II
- Prime Minister: Jóannes Eidesgaard
- Language Faroese, Danish
- Largest City: Tórshavn
- Greenland
- Monarch: Margrethe II
- Prime Minister: Hans Enoksen
- Languages: Greenlandic, Danish
- Largest city: Nuuk (Godthåb)
- Faroe Islands
- Finland
- President Sauli Niinistö
- Prime Minister Juha Sipilä
- Official languages Finnish, Swedish
- Largest Arctic City: Rovaniemi ~58,000.
- Norway
- Monarch: Harald V
- Prime Minister: Jens Stoltenberg (Ap)
- Storting President Thorbjørn Jagland (Ap)
- Languages: Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)1
- Largest Arctic Cities:Tromsø (62,000)
- Major Arctic Ports: Kirkenes, Hammerfest, Narvik, Bodø, Longyearbyen
- Russia
- President: Vladimir Putin
- Prime Minister: Dimitry Medvedev
- Language: Russian
- Largest Arctic Cities: Murmansk (325,100), Norilsk (135,000) Vorkuta (85,000)
- Major Arctic Ports:Pevek, Tiksi, Dikson, Dudinka, Murmansk, Arkhangelsk
- Sweden
- Monarch King Carl XVI Gustaf
- Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt
- LanguageSwedish
- Largest city Stockholm
- Regional Languages: Finnish, Meänkieli, Sami, Romani, Yiddish
- United States
- President: Donald Trump
- Languages: English
- Alaska, United States
- Governor: Sean Parnell
- Largest city: Anchorage
- Major Arctic Ports: Barrow, Alaska, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska
Arctic waters
Arctic lands
- Alaska (USA)
- Aleutian Islands (USA)
- Baffin Island, Nunavut
- Bear Island (Norway)
- Canadian Arctic Archipelago
- Diomede Islands (Russia/USA)
- Foxe Basin
- Franz Josef Land (Russia)
- Island of Grímsey
- Kotzebue Sound
- Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada)
- New Siberian Islands (Russia)
- Northwest Territories, including Great Bear Lake (Canada)
- Novaya Zemlya (Russia)
- Nunavik (northern Québec, Canada)
- Nunavut (Canada)
- Finnmark (Norway)
- Greenland (Denmark)
- Iceland
- Jan Mayen (Norway)
- Severnaya Zemlya (Russia)
- Seward Peninsula, Alaska
- Siberia (Russia)
- Svalbard (Norway)
- Yukon (Canada)
- Wrangel Island (Russia)
Arctic indigenous peoples
The Circumpolar North generally includes the lands surrounding the Arctic Circle.
Related portals
Associated Wikimedia
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References
- ^ Heinzel, H.; Fitter, R.S.R.; Parslow, J. (1995), Birds of Britain and Europe (5 ed.), London: HarperCollins, ISBN 0-00-219894-0
- ^ Friedmann, H. (1950), "The birds of North and Middle America", U.S. National Museum Bulletin, 50 (11): 1–793
- ^ White, C.M.; et al. (1994), "Family Falconidae", in del Hoyo, J.; Elliot, A.; Sargatal, J., Handbook of Birds of the World: New World Vultures to Guineafowl, 2, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 216–275, plates 24-28, ISBN 84-87334-15-6
- ^ Snow, D.W.; et al. (1998), The complete birds of the western Palaearctic on CD-ROM, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192685791
- ^ Ferguson-Lees, J.; Christie, D.A. (2001), Raptors of the World, London: Christopher Helm, ISBN 0-7136-8026-1
- ^ Northwest Territories Official Languages Act, 1988 (as amended 1988, 1991-1992, 2003)